Exploring Available Migraine Medications
- Posted by pfauthor on November 23rd, 2009
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In addressing the problem of migraines, the medical establishment is working hard these days at learning and promoting preventive measures, but sometimes migraine medications are the only answer, when the measures don’t help and the advent of the headache just can’t be stopped. There are various levels of treatment and strengths and combinations of drugs, and depending on the severity of the head pain, doctors usually have patients start with the simplest and work their way up in an effort to gain relief.
The first types of medications generally given for migraines are the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDS. These are more familiar to people as acetaminophen, aspirin, ibuprofen and naproxen. They are generally over-the-counter drugs, so people whose migraines tend to be mild can self-prescribe, and sometimes nip the headaches in the bud. Occasionally, when combined with caffeine, these can bring not just migraine relief but also relief from the nausea that tends to accompany this condition.
The next step in migraine medications is taken when more powerful drugs are needed for stronger headaches. One of the effective types of medications for mid-line headaches is the triptans. These don’t just work on the headache, but help the accompanying nausea and over-sensitivities as well. The main version of this sort of drug is Sumatriptan. Another line of migraine defense for really severe headaches can be opiates, but doctors prefer not to prescribe these if they can avoid it, to prevent potential addiction.
Other treatments involve combining different drugs as medication for migraines, so a drug like Fioricet would have butalbital (a barbiturate) with aspirin, paracetamol (acetaminophen) and caffeine. Severe headaches that don’t respond to drug treatments, called refractory migraines, are sometimes treated intravenously with drugs like Decadron, Phergan, Keppra, and so on. Intravenous treatment aims at rebalancing the internal fluids and electrolytes as well as easing the pain.
In many ways, the common migraine is not common at all, and even after years of research its origins and mechanism remain at least partly mysterious. For this reason, treatment can be somewhat hit-and-miss, and it’s not always easy for doctors to tell which migraine medications are going to have an effect on any individual’s headache. But research continues to be done, and many strides have been made. And now at least there are several available choices of treatments to try, with the hope of greater relief.
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